1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a drying apparatus for drying a semiconductor member such as a semiconductor wafer or a mask. More specifically, the invention relates to an improvement of a drying apparatus for drying a drying subject member such as a semiconductor member by using a vapor of isopropyl alcohol (IPA) produced by heating.
2. Background Art
Among various methods for drying a semiconductor member such as a semiconductor wafer or a mask that has been subjected to rinsing or the like, there is a method in which a semiconductor wafer is dried by placing it in a vapor of isopropyl alcohol (IPA). The subject member to be dried may be expanded to other than a semiconductor member, however, hereinafter the term semiconductor wafer is used to typify a drying subject member in a broader term including a semiconductor members in general.
FIG. 3 schematically shows a configuration of such a conventional drying machine. As shown in FIG. 3, in the conventional drying machine, a heater 3 is provided under a quartz tank 1 and a vapor of isopropyl alcohol is produced by heating an isopropyl alcohol liquid 2 with the heater 3. To prevent the vapor from escaping outside, a cooling coil 10 for trapping the vapor is provided at the upper portion of the tank 1. In this manner, the inside of the quartz tank 1 is filled with the vapor of isopropyl alcohol. A semiconductor wafer 5 is dried by placing it in the vapor together with a carrier 4. A wafer drop tray 6 receives water droplets from the wafer.
However, in the above conventional method, the temperature inside the quartz tank 1 rapidly decreases when the carrier 4 and the semiconductor wafer 5 are placed in the quarts tank 1. This causes a problem that the drying performance is poor, the drying time long, and stains are prone to occur until the original temperature is restored.